Chapter 4
Dean woke around noon the following day, still groggy and irritable but considerably warmer. He stumbled into the bathroom to take a hot shower while Sam busied himself with calling the coroner to see if they could come in and see the bodies of some of the most recent victims.
Dean had forgotten about the sunflower smelling soaps until he had to use them again, and as a result he came out grumpier than when he had entered it, which was saying something. Sam noticed but didn't say anything…he was too busy writing down an address when Dean took a seat next to him at the small circular table.
"So?"
"We have an appointment at three to go examine Carl Jeffrey. That gives us enough time to go grab some lunch and then head to Harrison to grab some food to keep here." Sam shrugged. "Best I could do."
Dean nodded and ran a hand through his wet hair. "Well go get cleaned up then. Maybe you haven't noticed but you don't smell so good."
Sam wrinkled his nose as he stared at his brother, he could have sworn that he smelled sunflowers when Dean had opened the door but he had held back his teasing retort. He had a feeling Dean wouldn't find it all that funny. "Fine." He huffed and stood from his seat. "Why don't you make yourself useful and try searching for what we are hunting while I'm busy getting cleaned up then?"
"That's your job geek boy."
"Yeah well I haven't found anything so maybe you can." Sam's sentence was followed by the closing of the bathroom door.
Dean groaned and turned the laptop so it was facing him. He began to look at some of the websites Sam had already saved to favorites. He scanned lazily through the lists of beasts that seemed endless…all of them with a short paragraph describing the beast and the horrors that they brought with them.
According to reports the victims were found either alone in the woods somewhere or a fortunate few made it out to the river only to bleed out. All of their eyes had been scratched out. Dean had suggested Bloody Mary again but Sam had shot that one down, not one of the victims had died in front of a mirror, or any kind of glass for that matter.
Dean had to admit that Sam had a point and now they were at a loss as to what the hell they were dealing with. Getting tired of scanning through forest creatures Dean clicked on aerial beasts. He began to scroll down once more, seemingly bored, his eyes only half focusing on the names of the creatures listed.
He stopped when he saw a picture caught his attention next to the harpy. Dean's eyes narrowed as he studied the ugly vulture body with the head of an old haggard looking woman. Sharp protruding claws were attached to the large feet and a victim was hanging limply from them as she carried him in the air. Her head was held up, her eyes blood red.
"Find something?" Sam asked stepping out of the bathroom and seeing Dean engrossed in research, a very rare occurrence.
"Maybe…what do you know about harpies?" Dean asked turning back to his brother.
Sam's eyes narrowed slightly. "Harpies?" He thought for a moment. "Not much." He finally admitted he took a seat next to Dean and looked at the screen. "Why?"
"I think this might be what we are hunting Sam." Dean said turning the computer to show Sam the picture of the harpy.
Sam frowned and pulled the laptop closer, typing quickly. Dean watched him as Sam did a search engine on harpies and finally sat back in the chair, his eyebrows disappearing into his hair.
"I think you're right Dean. I think we are facing a harpy."
"What'd you find out?"
"Well according to Greek Mythology, well one legend anyway Zeus created the harpy to take away things from the earth, but he also sent them to punish King Phineus of Thrake for giving away secrets about the Gods."
"So?"
Sam glared at him. "Well that is one legend, all of the others say that the harpies are demonic winged women with vulture like bodies. They like to torture their victims, toying with them, before they kill them. Scratched out eyes or blindness being one of them. They are said to be Hags from Hell some of Hades personal henchmen. According to another legend King Phineus was blinded by the harpies and they stole his food, befouling any remains…"
"That's just gross."
Sam gave his brother a half smile. "Yeah, well…"
"So how do we stop them?"
"Does Dad have anything in the journal?" Sam asked. He watched as Dean's eyes darkened at the mention of their father. "I can't find anything online…so I guess we could call Bobby…"
Dean continued to stare darkly at Sam, unmoving. Sam sighed and pulled out his phone, dialing the familiar number quickly and turning away from his brother so he wouldn't have to see that penetrating stare burning into him.
"Bobby…hey. No, no, we're good…just need some information…"
Dean sighed listening to the one sided conversation.
"Well, we think we are hunting a harpy…know anything about how to kill them?" Sam chewed on his lip while he waited for Bobby to answer. He turned to look at Dean, whose eyes had dropped to a small stain on the table. "Ok, yeah, that might work. Huh…do you think? Ok. No, we aren't sure. Great. Thanks Bobby!"
Sam clicked his phone shut and turned to face his brother again. Dean looked up at him slowly, his eyes still dark his finger still tracing around the small stain.
"So?"
"Bobby thinks a beheading a harpy with a blessed machete and burning the remains should take care of her."
"How are we supposed to?"
"Bobby gave us a chant that should do it Dean. Anyway, he doesn't know too much about harpies…apparently there aren't that many out there anymore."
"Hmm." Dean said absent-mindedly.
"So, I say we go get more supplies and see if this body matches up with the description of a harpy attack and then if it does we can set up to go hunt her."
"You sure that this is going to work Sam?"
Sam frowned, puzzled. "It should. Why?"
"Nothing." Dean said pushing up from the chair and walking into the bedroom, he let the door shut behind him. Sam stared after him in surprise. Something was bothering his brother, but he doubted that Dean was going to be explaining himself anytime soon.
He turned back to the laptop again, his eyes straying to the picture of the harpy. He prayed that their guess wasn't they would be going into this hunt blind and they would have a better chance of getting hurt. He was determined to keep Dean safe tonight, at any cost.
